orthostichy

American

[awr-thos-ti-kee] / ɔrˈθɒs tɪ ki /

noun

Botany.

a vertical rank or row.
an arrangement of members, as leaves, at different heights on an axis so that their median planes coincide.

orthostichy British

/ ɔːˈθɒstɪkɪ /

noun

an imaginary vertical line that connects a row of leaves on a stem
an arrangement of leaves so connected

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

orthostichous

adjective

Inflected Forms

noun

orthostichies

plural

Etymology

Origin of orthostichy

1870–75; ortho- + Greek -stichia alignment, equivalent to stích ( os ) row ( see stich ¹) + -ia -y ³

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023